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Capturing Angers: A Documentary Trip to France

We’re makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice. The St. Edward’s Marketing Office has an important assignment in Angers, France, this summer, and we don’t want to forget anything important:

Airline tickets and passports

Camera

Lenses

Tripod

Laptops

Electrical adaptors

Batteries

Travel pillow

Gummy worms

Granola bars

How to Speak French in a Week book

Is there a pill for jet lag?

This month, three members of the Marketing Office are privileged to join 60 St. Edward’s University students and five faculty members to document just how an immersive international experience can inject inspiration, passion and personal growth into the lives of students.

During the next week, we’ll bring you photos and video from Associate Professor Les Carter’s project with a winery in the Savennières region of France that has been producing wines since the 15th century. Madame Evelyn de Pontbriand, who leads the Domaine du Closel estate and Château des Vaults winery, wants to export her wines to Texas, and she needs a plan. Carter believes his students can come up with a solution. Twelve graduate students enrolled in the School of Management and Business Global Entrepreneurship Capstone will develop a business plan and marketing plan for Madame Evelyn de Pontbriand.

Save the churches! That’s the assignment for Assistant Professor Gary Pletcher’s undergraduate students this summer through the School of Management and Business Social Justice Institute. Residents in the village of Ste Gemmes d'Andigné , France, are looking to St. Edward’s University students for some advice. They have a church, built in 1865, that is falling into disrepair and in danger of being torn down due to a lack of funding by the municipal government. They need a nonprofit organization, and they need a business plan — ASAP. St. Edward’s students are taking on the challenge.

But it’s not all about business plans this summer. Communications students studying in France this summer have the benefit of Associate Professor Stephanie Poole-Martinez who is teaching four communications classes: Contemporary World Issues, Communications and Culture, Presentational Speaking, and Directed Study in Ethnography.

And, for undergraduate seniors who need to complete their senior Capstone, what better setting than the beautiful Loire Valley of France? Associate Professor of Political Science Brian Smith is working with 10 undergraduate students who will complete their senior Capstone project with his guidance.

With all of this great work to photograph, video tape and document, we’re going to need some help. Assistant Professor Gregg Perry’s students in the Digital Media Management program will learn the basics of creating a documentary film this summer. They’ll hone their skills on everything from shooting video to editing to interviewing, while helping us capture the sights and sounds of study abroad in France. If we keep them fed with Nutella crepes, maybe they’ll help schlep tripods too!